We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
There have only been three BIG THINGS in music in my lifetime.
1.The Beatles making rock music important, then self-important, then self-absorbed, and then self-destructive, then atomized. 2. I remember the first time I heard Desmond Dekker very clearly. It was a revelation. 3. Bossa Nova.
As usual, the sixties get the credit for all three, but all of these things were born in 1950s culture. The fifties were supposed to be this sterile uptight time, but that's a joke to anyone that can crack a book.
Pic above is Eaton's Ranch in Wyoming, a place my Mom loved.
Lots of places to explore on this planet, but we do love dude ranches.What is a dude? - How the strange history of the ‘dude’ helps throw a light on why the West still feels like the real America
Dude ranches might be a bit phony compared to real ones, but if you don't have a friend with a real ranch in Wyoming or somewhere, they are great fun. We recommend dude ranch holidays in the American West. It sure beats DisneyWorld.
Yes, at least one wrangler always has a rifle. Horrors!
Summer in NYC is the best, as good as Christmas. Some of our readers just have no idea about what a delight it can be just to amble around. As Mayor Mike said, "NYC is a luxury good."
Ran into two dads I know well at the market today, all planning their happy day at the grill and doing their shopping. So social and cheerful at the market it was hard to get out of there. Do dads do all of the weekend marketing these days? Seems like it. We'll have only 3 BD family dads here at the HQ with my own dad having died less than a year ago, but this dad Bird Dog will do the cooking because it's fun to do. I do prefer using firewood in the grill instead of charcoal, like camping. I don't understand why people use charcoal - or gas grills - because wood burns very well. I blame marketing. Wood makes good coals but they do not last as long as charcoal. That's the challenge.
A BD daughter has set up croquet. Perfect.
Antipasto: Grilled fennel with lemon (finocchio), grilled eggplant slices, grilled potato slices - grilled then splashed with oil, s and p, and chopped parsley. Yes, raw potato slices are easily grilled. Primi: Couscous with mint and zucchini (Sicilian-style) Secondi: Marinated butterflied leg o' lamb on my wood fire with home-made mint sauce. Charred on the outside (let the flames come, and never remove the fat), almost raw in the middle. Side: Steamed spinach with oil and garlic Good bread with hard crust
Apple slices and cheese for dessert. No, I am not Italian at all even though this is classic Italian/Sicilian cookin'.
As Kipling explained, the Middle East, like Africa, defeats all intentions:
Take up the White Man's burden-- The savage wars of peace-- Fill full the mouth of Famine, And bid the sickness cease; And when your goal is nearest (The end for others sought) Watch sloth and heathen folly Bring all your hope to nought.
If Ives’s music often falls flat in performance, does that make the music less great? For most people the answer is unequivocally yes. But it’s worth contemplating the example of three piano sonatas, all written within fifteen years of the premiere of Ives’s “Concord,” by three of the most important American composers: Carter, Barber, Copland. Each of these pieces attempts an epic statement, fusing popular music with the complexities of modernism. Each is more expertly composed than the “Concord”—better crafted, more transparent, more pianistic—and eminently practical in concert. But Ives’s sonata towers over them all, despite or because of its doubts, sweeping past the fine points of constructing a musical work to address the nature and purpose of music itself. And that is the injustice of art; sometimes all the craft in the world is trumped by someone with something more important to say.
"Jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule." Visions of Johanna (1966). Post-political, soaked in NYC, this darn song just never quits producing. Lyrics here.
Take heed, y'all readers who don't quite get Bob yet. "Name me someone who isn't a parasite and I'll go out and say a prayer for him."
"What is lost in lucidity is gained in the strange poetic power of association that is Shakespeare's most striking poetic feature. His mind leaps sideways - and, by implication, in cross-referenced, associative language-leaping allusiveness - as often as it bulls forward to a goal. It is the very opposite of what Orwell and the like supposed to be the special virtue of English: plain-pudding simplicity and clarity."
If you think Delta is a mess, try partially-government-owned Alitalia...from Wiki:
On 3 May 2013, in a sting codenamed "Operation Clean Holds", police made 49 arrests at Rome's Fiumicino airport, with another 37 in major Italian airports including Bari, Bologna, Milan Linate, Naples, Palermo and Verona. All were Alitalia employees caught on camera and most were charged with aggravated theft and damage.[21] Hidden camera footage has been released showing employees rifling through, stealing from, and intentionally damaging passenger's baggage belonging to various carriers.
We'll fly them anyway. Travel is always an interesting challenge.
Stuck in Traffic? Thanks, Obama!: Feds to Regulate Waze, Google Maps, and Other Navigation Apps
My flag flies every day at Maggie's HQ. 
From 
Photo via 
Is Going Topless